Storm Cuts Balloon Flights

Last night's severe thunderstorms didn't hold down the balloons at the 3rd annual Lehigh Valley Balloon Festival, but they did hold down the size of the crowd.

The evening balloon launch sent about 35 rainbow-colored hot-air balloons into the sky over the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Airport shortly after 7 p.m., after a 6 p.m. pilots' briefing indicated that the overcast, drizzly weather was breaking.

But once aloft, the balloons - less than half of the 83 registered at the festival, according to promoter Bob Sparks - didn't stay in the sky very long.

While the sun appeared briefly after 6 p.m., the "ceiling" quickly closed in with heavy clouds and fog that cut visibility. Then lightning and thunder and heavy rain rolled in from the northwest shortly after 8 p.m.

Most of the balloonists landed in the area of Catasauqua and North Catasauqua without completing their mission - a "hare and hound" race in which balloonists chase after a lead balloon and attempt to drop a marker onto a large "X" dropped to the ground by the leader.

The launch was virtually a repeat of the early morning launch, whichwas quickly followed by rain, which sent a more sizable crowd scurrying from the airport grounds.

The bad weather had some concession sellers, many of whom are nonprofit groups, worrying that they would lose money on the festival unless today's skies cleared.

And it had some balloonists, some of whom were already upset that a dispute over liability insurance had forced them to cancel paying passenger flights, worrying about safety.

"Business has been slow," said Pat Johnson of the Lower Nazareth Recreation Commission, which was selling hot dogs and sodas from under a tent for the benefit of the group's baseball teams. "There's 200 cans of soda back there. Hopefully they can be taken back or we can sell them to parents. But we would stand to lose a lot of money if the sun doesn't come out tomorrow."

The group, which also holds dances and raffles to support its program, was in its first appearance at the festival. "We heard it's good money maker for nonprofits," she said.